Chip Notes

The chips in our survey range from 130 to 150 calories per ounce. On the low side are Frontera Foods, because they are cooked in water with a bit of oil, rather than fried in oil.

Having tasted so many brands of blue corn chips at once, we have concluded that blue corn chips are more of an aesthetic notion than a savory one. They are dusty-tasting and more bland than chips from the same manufacturer made of yellow or white corn (or a mixture of the two).

Our favorites: the chips from Food Should Taste Good, Frontera Foods and Rosa Mexicano.Salba Smart is also excellent, but slightly different with added Salba (think chia) seeds. Food Should Taste Good is sold at Whole Foods Markets and other natural food stores nationwide. Frontera Foods, based in Chicago, is partially owned by acclaimed Mexican chef Rick Bayless, owner of Chicago’s Frontera Grill and Topolobampo Mexican restaurants. Rosa Mexicano has three restaurants in New York City plus restaurants in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Palm Beach Gardens. (Their guacamole, made at tableside with a basket of their warm fresh-made chips, is a highlight of the menu.)

Prices will vary: Those listed are a mixture of chips that can be ordered online from the manufacturer, and those that were purchased at various specialty food stores in New York City. Even among the New York stores, we found a price differential of 20% for the same item. And, of course, prices are verified at publication but are subject to change.

If you have a favorite chip, we’d love to know about it—especially if it’s nationally distributed or available online. Use the “Contact Us” link on this page.

A tie for first place. Consistently, our favorite line of chips. Numerous flavors—we’ll do a full review of the line next month. All are excellent; not surprisingly, the blue corn chip was the best one we tasted.

Ingredients: Organically grown corn (yellow/white or blue), soybean oil, salt. The blue corn is cooked in water with just a trace of soybean oil.

9-ounce bag, $3.50*; FronteraFoods.com.

Garden of Eatin’
Blue Corn Chips
White Corn Chips

QAI Certified Organic

Certified Kosher by Kof-K

Third place winner (White Corn Chips): beautiful texture visually, good mouthfeel and basic corn flavor, thicker chip, good for break-free dipping. The White Corn Chips have more corn flavor than the Blue Corn Chips.

Overall response: bland. The Blue Corn is even more bland than the Yellow Corn.

An ultra-thin style chip. The delicateness works against dipping, and also results in a lot of broken chips at the bottom of the bag—not what you want at this high a price (or any price). One tester said: “It’s like crunching on air.”

This “Mexican style” chip may reduce chip calories, but otherwise the style was not preferred to the heftier “American style.”